Shabbat Kodesh Parashat Pekudei
I never understood why it was important to spend precious “Torah Time” thousands of years after it happened, on the total accounting and “balance sheet” of the donations and spending in the “Project Mishkan”, the building the Tabernacle.
The traditional Torah commentators have indeed very little to explain on the second part of this week’s Parsha. It is basically an accounting exercise. Of course there are always much deeper – Kabalistic and lofty ways to learn every letter in the Torah, but there must be a “simple interpretation” too.
More than 30 years ago, I was trusted by someone I knew well to help dealing with a big part of his financial affairs. It was a high task, but I was happy to help this person, whom I liked a lot. And the experience it provided me with, was important to me. A short time into this project, a friend of this man approached me and began to ask me intrusive questions about my conduct. He had no right to do so but was claiming to care for his friend’s assets. I was shocked and dumbfounded. Here I was doing something no one else wanted to do, with the full trust of the person involved, and this guy has the Chutzpah to question my conduct. I resisted and refused to give him any info. The man kept his dislike for me – ever since.
We learn in the Midrash that the full and detailed account Moshe Rabeinu provided the nation with was not without reason. There was a small but loud voice questioning Moshe Rabeinu’s integrity in handling the vast amount of donations. Moshe Rabeinu – the greatest prophet. And the person G’d described as:
לֹא־כֵ֖ן עַבְדִּ֣י מֹשֶׁ֑ה בְּכׇל־בֵּיתִ֖י נֶאֱמָ֥ן הֽוּא
“Not so with My servant Moses; he is trusted throughout My household”. Furthermore – all the gold and silver Bnei Yisrael had in their possession (and from which they have donated), was achieved through Moshe Rabeinu’s leadership getting them out of Egypt. So – He would have been absolutely right to say: “I was entrusted by G-d to head this project and I have no duty to reply to the shameless allegations”.
But Moshe Rabeinu did not respond the way he was entitled to. He did provide a detailed account, to the penny, of the income and outgoings of the “Mishkan project”. Because he was not only The great leader.
He was also:
הָאִ֥ישׁ מֹשֶׁ֖ה עָנָ֣ו מְאֹ֑ד מִכֹּל֙ הָֽאָדָ֔ם אֲשֶׁ֖ר עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הָאֲדָמָֽה׃
“Now Moses himself was very humble, more so than any other human being on earth.”
What an important lesson in “Torah time”.
Shabbat Shalom and best wishes
Rabbi Chaim Michael Biberfeld